Terrell Lamar Davis (born October 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2001. Despite his short seven-year career (with four full seasons), Davis is often regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time.
Davis was selected by the Broncos in the sixth round (196th pick overall) of the 1995 NFL draft. He is the Denver Broncos' all-time leading rusher, with 7,607 rushing yards. Davis still holds the NFL record for most rushing touchdowns in a single postseason, scoring eight in the 1997 playoffs, culminating in him winning the Super Bowl MVP award. In 1998, he became only the fourth NFL player to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season. As a player, he was given the nickname "T. D." by players, fans and the media; this denoted both the initials of his first and last name as well as being an abbreviation for touchdown. Davis is also credited with starting the "Mile High Salute", a celebratory tradition among Denver Broncos players after scoring a touchdown. He was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
Early life
Davis was born to nurse Kateree Davis, a mother of eight children, and father Joe Davis. His father died when Terrell was 14 years old.
In his senior year at Lincoln High School, the coaches gave him a chance at fullback, in a three-back formation. He was given playing time in other positions, including kicker, and helped lead his team to a 12–2 record. Davis set the Lincoln Prep record in the discus throw as a member of the track team. After graduation, Davis went on to play baseball at Long Beach State University. His brother Reggie Webb was a tailback there before him, and he persuaded the school to grant Davis a scholarship.
College career
At Long Beach State, Davis joined the football team that was coached by former Washington Redskins coach George Allen. He redshirted his freshman year in order to give him an extra year of eligibility. Davis never played an official game for coach Allen because Allen died after the end of the 1990 season. Davis played the following season and rushed for 262 yards on 55 carries.
Long Beach State eliminated its football program due to budget concerns at the end of the 1991 season. Davis transferred to the University of Georgia. During his first season with the Bulldogs, Davis backed up future NFL starting running back Garrison Hearst. After Hearst graduated, Davis became the top running back during the 1993 season, and rushed for 824 yards on 167 carries. Davis's senior season at Georgia got off to a rocky start when he aggravated a tear in his hamstring muscle against Tennessee early in the season, which took him out of the lineup for three games. Davis ran for 445 yards on 67 carries that year, but in his last two games, he rushed for 113 and 121 yards, respectively. After the season, he was invited to the Blue–Gray Football Classic game. Davis's reputation for being injury-prone hurt his standing in the NFL draft, along with the fact that Coach Goff denied scouts game film of Davis.
In 1995, newly appointed Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan drafted Davis in the sixth round of the 1995 NFL Draft. Davis entered training camp as the sixth string tailback and was a longshot to make the team. He managed to impress the Broncos coaching staff after his second pre-season game, most notably with a crushing hit as a member of special teams. Davis kept improving with each pre-season game and was promoted to starting running back for the season's opening game.
Later career
After the 1998 season, Davis was plagued with injuries and saw action infrequently. In 1999, Davis tore the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament of his right knee while trying to make a tackle on an interception thrown against the New York Jets, during the fourth game of the season. This injury kept him out for the remainder of the year.
In the 2000 season, Davis was sidelined for all but five games because of a stress reaction injury in his lower leg. In 2001, he only played in eight games because of arthroscopic surgery on both knees.
Legacy
175px|thumb|right|Davis in Denver in 2017
Davis was named The Sporting News NFL Player of the Year in 1998. In 2004, Davis was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. Davis was one of the semifinalists for the 2007 Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
On July 27, 2007, it was announced that Davis would be inducted into the Denver Broncos Ring of Fame. His induction ceremony took place at Invesco Field at Mile High on September 23, 2007, in a Broncos home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. In 2006, Davis was inducted into the Breitbard Hall of Fame. On February 7, 2016, Davis and John Elway served as the Broncos' honorary captains at Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California. They also appeared at the pre-game ceremony honoring the past 50 Super Bowl MVPs. Davis was also one of the players who did the Trophy Presentation when the Broncos won the Super Bowl. On August 4, 2017, Davis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his eleventh year of eligibility.
Career statistics
NFL
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#ffd700; width:3em;"|
| AP NFL MVP & OPOTY
|-
| style="background:#ffff00; width:3em;"|
| AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year
|-
| style="background:#f4c842; width:3em;"|
| Super Bowl MVP
|-
| style="background:#afe6ba; width:3em;"|
| Won the Super Bowl
|-
| style="background:#e0cef2; width:3em;"|
| NFL record
|-
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league
|-
| Bold
| Career high
|}
Regular season
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team
! colspan="2"| Games
! colspan="5"| Rushing
! colspan="5"| Receiving
! colspan="2"| Fumbles
|-
! GP !! GS !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Fum !! Lost
|-
! 1995 !! DEN
| 14 || 14 || 237 || 1,117 || 4.7 || 60 || 7 || 49 || 367 || 7.5 || 31 || 1 || 5 || 2
|-
! style="background:#ffff00;"|1996 !! DEN
| 16 || 16 || 345 || 1,538 || 4.5 || 71 || 13 || 36 || 310 || 8.6 || 23 || 2 || 5 || 3
|-
! 1997 !! style="background:#afe6ba;"| DEN
| 15 || 15 || 369 || 1,750 || 4.7 || 50 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 15 || 42 || 287 || 6.8 || 25 || 0 || 4 || 0
|-
! style="background:#ffd700;"|1998 !! style="background:#afe6ba;"|DEN
| 16 || 16 || 392 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 2,008 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 5.1 || 70 || style="background:#cfecec;"| 21 || 25 || 217 || 8.7 || 35 || 2 || 2 || 2
|-
! 1999 !! DEN
| 4 || 4 || 67 || 211 || 3.1 || 26 || 2 || 3 || 26 || 8.7 || 10 || 0 || 1 || 1
|-
! 2000 !! DEN
| 5 || 5 || 78 || 282 || 3.6 || 24 || 2 || 2 || 4 || 2.0 || 5 || 0 || 1 || 0
|-
! 2001 !! DEN
| 8 || 8 || 167 || 701 || 4.2 || 57 || 0 || 12 || 69 || 5.8 || 16 || 0 || 2 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"| Career !! 78 !! 78 !! 1,655 !! 7,607 !! 4.6 !! 71 !! 60 !! 169 !! 1,280 !! 7.6 !! 35 !! 5 !! 20 !! 8
|}
Postseason
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team
! colspan="2"| Games
! colspan="5"| Rushing
! colspan="5"| Receiving
! colspan="2"| Fumbles
|-
! GP !! GS !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Fum !! Lost
|-
! 1996 !! DEN
| 1 || 1 || 14 || 91 || 6.5 || 47 || 1 || 7 || 27 || 3.4 || 6 || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
! style="background:#f4c842;"|1997 !! style="background:#afe6ba;"|DEN
| 4 || 4 || 112 || 581 || 5.2 || 59 || style="background:#e0cef2;"| 8 || 8 || 38 || 4.8 || 17 || 0 || 4 || 2
|-
! 1998 !! style="background:#afe6ba;"|DEN
| 3 || 3 || 78 || 468 || 6.0 || 62 || 3 || 4 || 69 || 17.2 || 39 || 0 || 0 || 0
|-
! 2000 || DEN
| colspan="14"| Did not play due to injury
|-
! colspan="2"| Career !! 8 !! 8 !! 204 !! 1,140 !! 5.6 !! 62 !! 12 !! 19 !! 134 !! 7.1 !! 39 !! 0 !! 4 !! 2
|}
College
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Season
! rowspan="2"| Team
! colspan="5"| Rushing
! colspan="5"| Receiving
|-
! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD
|-
! 1990 !! Long Beach State
| colspan="11" | 15px Redshirted
|-
! 1991 !! Long Beach State
| 55 || 262 || 4.8 || 48 || 2 || 4 || 92 || 23.0 || 75 || 1
|-
! 1992 !! Georgia
| 53 || 388 || 7.3 || 61 || 3 || 3 || 38 || 12.7 || 23 || 1
|-
! 1993 !! Georgia
| 167 || 824 || 4.9 || 42 || 5 || 12 || 161 || 13.4 || 57 || 3
|-
! 1994 !! Georgia
| 97 || 445 || 4.6 || 25 || 6 || 31 || 330 || 10.6 || 46 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"|Career || 372 || 1,919 || 5.4 || 61 || 16 || 50 || 621 || 14.9 || 75 || 5
|}
Career highlights
Awards and honors
- 2× Super Bowl champion (XXXII, XXXIII)
- Super Bowl MVP (XXXII)
- NFL Most Valuable Player (1998)
- 2× NFL Offensive Player of the Year (1996, 1998)
- 3× First-team All-Pro (1996–1998)
- 3× Pro Bowl (1996–1998)
- NFL rushing yards leader (1998)
- 2× NFL rushing touchdowns leader (1997, 1998)
- NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
- PFWA All-Rookie Team (1995)
- Denver Broncos Ring of Fame
Records
NFL records
- Most rushing touchdowns in a single postseason: (8 in 1997)
- Consecutive 100 yard rushing games in playoffs: (7 from 1997 to 1998)
Franchise records
As of the 2018 NFL off-season, Davis held at least 46 Broncos franchise records, including:
- Rush Attempts: career (1,655), season (392 in 1998), game (42 on 1997-10-26 @BUF), playoffs (204), playoff season (112 in 1997), playoff game (32 on 1999-01-17 NYJ)
- Rush Yards: career (7,607), season (2,008 in 1998), playoffs (1,140), playoff season (581 in 1997), playoff game (199 on 1999-01-09 MIA)
- Rush Yds/Att: playoffs (5.59), playoff game (9.48 on 1999-01-09 MIA)
- Rushing TDs: career (60), season (21 in 1998), playoffs (12), playoff season (8 in 1997), playoff game (3 on 1998-01-25 NGNB)
- Rush Yds/Game: season (125.5 in 1998), playoffs (142.5), playoff season (156 in 1998)
- Total TDs: season (23 in 1998), playoffs (12), playoff season (8 in 1997), playoff game (3 on 1998-01-25 NGNB)
- Yds from Scrimmage: season (2,225 in 1998), playoffs (1,271), playoff season (619 in 1997), playoff game (206 on 1999-01-09 MIA)
- All Purpose Yds: season (2,225 in 1998), playoffs (1,271), playoff season (619 in 1997), playoff game (206 on 1999-01-09 MIA)
- 100+ yard rushing games: career (41), season (14 in 1997, 1998), playoffs (7)
- Games with 1+ TD scored: season (15 in 1997, 1998), playoffs (7)
- Games with 2+ TD scored: career (19), season (8 in 1998), playoffs (4)
- Games with 3+ TD scored: career (7), season (3 in 1998), playoffs (1), rookie season (1; with Jon Keyworth, Mike Anderson, and Clinton Portis)
- Seasons with 1000+ rushing yards: career (4)
Television career
After playing in the NFL, Davis worked for NFL Network as a correspondent and studio host for NFL Total Access. He also served as a color commentator for some NFL Europe games covered by NFL Network.
Other appearances
Davis appeared on Sesame Street in a skit with Elmo, Telly Monster, and a talking football. Elmo called Davis "the man" and Davis responded, "Thank you, thank you. I try!" The episode was filmed in December 1998 in New York, and Davis said on the episode of America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions profiling the 1998 Broncos that he was originally supposed to film the episode the day after Denver's week 15 matchup with the New York Giants which was played in Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The plan was for Davis to stay behind in New York for the day while the rest of the team flew home, assuming that the Broncos would win. However, because the Giants defeated the Broncos, Davis had to return to Denver for a Monday practice/film session with the team and then fly back to New York the next day to film his parts.
Davis guest-starred on Disney Channel's The Jersey, in an episode called "They Say It's Your Birthday" along with other sports stars Shannon Sharpe, Tim Brown, Hardy Nickerson, and Tony Siragusa. The episode originally aired on October 21, 2000.
Davis appeared on the season 5 finale of the sitcom Sister, Sister at the twins' graduation to give a speech.
Davis appeared on the August 29, 2008 episode of The Colbert Report to analyze the acceptance speech given by U.S. Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama at Invesco Field at Mile High a day earlier.
In 2023, Davis made a special guest appearance on an episode of Paramount Network's Bar Rescue, hosted by Jon Taffer, along with current NFL players Courtland Sutton, Justin Simmons, Kareem Jackson, and Bradley Chubb.
Personal life
Davis resides in Temecula, California, with his wife Tamiko Nash. They have three children: sons Jackson and Myles, and daughter Dylan. He wrote an autobiography, TD: Dreams in Motion, after his first Super Bowl victory. A chapter was later added to the book covering his NFL MVP season and second championship win.
Davis was on the cover of the video game NFL GameDay 99 by 989 Sports. He made an appearance in Madden NFL 2006, serving as the player's mentor in the new NFL Superstar Mode and adds his voice to the game.
Legal disputes
In 2001, Davis was named in the Atlanta's Gold Club federal prostitution, fraud and racketeering trial. The owner, Steve Kaplan, initially denied accusations of arranging dancers for athletes, claiming that he was unaware of any sexual encounters. Employee Jana Pelnis testified that she had sex with Davis in the club. Kaplan later pleaded guilty and was fined $5 million. A sentence of three years in jail was put on the table, but Kaplan instead received a sentence of 16 months and 400 hours of community service. Davis was never charged with any criminal wrongdoing. However, Campbell Soups dropped him from their advertising shortly thereafter.
In September 2006, Davis filed a lawsuit against Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Co. for breach of contract over its refusal to defend him in a lawsuit related to a tussle at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. In the lawsuit against the hotel, Davis claimed he was assaulted by two bouncers during a party at the hotel's Tropicana Bar in October 2005. Davis said he suffered a bruised neck and damage to a surgically repaired hip. Davis and the insurance company reached a settlement, so the case was dismissed in January 2007.
In July 2024, Davis was accused of hitting a United Airlines flight attendant while traveling with his wife and children from Denver. When the plane arrived at John Wayne Airport in California, an FBI agent placed him in handcuffs and removed him from the plane. After interviewing Davis and other passengers, the FBI released him from custody when it was determined the flight attendant had made an inaccurate accusation. United apologized for the incident and claimed it took the flight attendant "out of rotation" while the matter was investigated. On July 23, Davis's legal team released a video of their client being removed from the plane and said it would be filing a lawsuit against United. By July 30, United said the flight attendant was no longer employed with the company and Davis had been removed from its no-fly list.